Canada denies entry to Iranian football boss, but initially was granted permit

A senior Iranian sports official with alleged ties to a listed terrorist organization was denied entry into Canada on Tuesday night, but there are questions as to why Mehdi Taj was allowed to get as far as he did.

“He is inadmissible, as per our own laws,” said Negar Mojtahedi with Iran International.

“So how is that even possible?”

Mojtahedi broke the story that Taj was on his way to the FIFA congress in Vancouver on Thursday, but was put back on a plane shortly after landing in Toronto.

While Taj is currently the head of Iran’s soccer federation, he also has links to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

That is a branch of the Iranian military that Canada lists as a terrorist organization.

However, Taj was granted a temporary resident permit to enter Canada.

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“A temporary resident permit now that allows the Canadian government to override their own inadmissibility towards this individual, to give him special permission to come and in,” Mojtahedi said, “and they come in with this, you know, they come into the country through sports, and in the end, they can spy on dissidents and collect information that they then send back to the Iranian government.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says Canada’s position on Iran and the IRGC is clear, but says the permit should not have been issued.

“My understanding was there was a revocation last night of the permission… it was unintentional,” She said.

Canada’s Conservatives say this case illustrates a much larger problem.

According to Michelle Rempel Garner, there have been a number of cases of IRGC members slipping through the cracks.

“It is a pretty serious lack of screening and process to have the media doing security vetting on Iranian regime officials,” Rempel said.

The issue is likely to resurface for Canada during the World Cup.

U.S. Secretary of State Marc Rubio indicated that there are no concerns with Iranian players, but there are questions about people surrounding the team.

“The problem with Iran is not the athletes; it is around some of the people they would want to bring with them,” Rubio told reporters on April 23.

“Including people with ties to the IRGC. We may not be able to let them in.”